Solving PST Errors In Microsoft Outlook

t happens to everyone at some point: you sit down in the morning with a cup of coffee to check your emails and suddenly Outlook spits an error at you.

"Outlook.pst can not be accessed - 0x80040116. (where "Outlook.pst " is your.pst file name)"

Or,

"Sending and receiving reported error (0x80040116): unknown error 0x80040116"

These are just a couple of the very common errors that one can experience in Outlook. The reason for that particular error is that the file has become corrupted or damaged in some way. Another reason is that the file may have grown over 2 gigabytes.

Since the.pst file is just one file holding all your data (PST stands for "personal storage table), this is a very precarious situation. Unless you've been making backups of your mail file (most people don't) then you'll have to try to repair the one that is broken.

PST files get corrupted and damaged in a number of different ways. Viruses and malware are a couple of causes that are rather common. Another way to corrupt a file is to remove a USB drive while it's still in use, or an unexpected shutdown of the computer while the file was being written to or saved.

Repairing your Outlook mail file can sometimes be done using the included scanpst.exe program included with Outlook. This program must match the version of Outlook you are using. Usually the steps involved in using scanpst.exe are more about finding the file and name and location of your mail file. A simple Google search will give you the exact steps needed to use this method.

If scanpst.exe doesn't work, then there are some third party software tools available that can help you easily reconstruct your damaged file into a completely new one. One program will repair your PST by gathering data from it and reconstructing it into a new file. This poses no threat to your original file and you don't have to worry about making things worse. It's known that sometimes using the scanpst program can sometimes make things worse. This is why it's important to back up a copy of your damaged PST file before you try to do anything, just in case something goes wrong.

After you fix your file, you should get into the habit of making regular backups of your mail files. This will ensure that you limit any damage in the future.



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